CHAPTER 1: "Happenstance."

"The first steps are usually the most painful to the inexperienced." - The XII Mechanor Tridex (Circa 1958).  

It felt like they were going on forever and nowhere at the same time. True to its previous behavior, the voice was still continuing to ramble to her.

She felt like she was stuck in the sky. No one else in sight or mind besides her, the voice, and the clouds.

It was kind of annoying to her. But at the same time, it was freeing.

Sure, she hated heights, but the quiet felt nice.

So yeah, after you break P's leg and leave the sucker hobbling on one foot, you give it a cane.. Then you straighten its spine, then you leave it to die!

And that's why the letter R exists!

Alright. Time to move on to the Achaean Alphabet!

She was getting a bit annoyed. All this drivel and they hadn't even gotten to what she really wants to know.

"Is there ever a quiet moment to you?"

Well. If there's anything I can teach you, it's that quiet never lasts forever.

...

She still resided in the pile, alongside the new voice in her head.

She was beginning to feel the pain of the uncomfortable angle her body was unnaturally disposed in.

But still. If she was anything, she was persistent.

"Alright. You've gone through almost all the letters except the one that looks like zero..

"Could you please tell me what that letter is called?" she begged the voice, with an incessant child-like tone. A strange quality began to emerge in her voice. It sounded dead, but something about it felt more alive than the usual computer generated voice.

You've got to be kidding me. Not this crap again. 

"Please? It's just a letter." she pleaded with the voice.

Fine. Fine. I'll tell you what it is.

From how much you can't seem to shut up about it, I'm assuming you know what zero is? 

"Yeah?"

Split it in half.

"Zero isn't divisible by two-"

Not the mathematical constant kid. The word.

"Ro?"

Yes. Ro. 

I would say that it's your new name, but there's no way I'm hitching a ride on someone called Ro. Sounds like they'd gently drown in a stream.

You don't want your life to be a dream right?

"Y-Yeah?"

Anyway, enough about that. Say it.

"Ok? Ro.

"Ro..

"Ro.?

"Ro!

"Roooo-"

You were pronouncing it right a few seconds ago. Now it sounds like a marsupial who'd kick you into the stream.

"I'm not getting it.. You just told me what the letter R means."

And?

"I only noticed two sounds in Ro. There's the R sound, and then there's that weird 'o' sound-"

Say that again. Slowly.

She paused for a moment. Something didn't feel rig-

"Oh.....

She giggled awkwardly.

"That's what the letter was.. 'O'!"

She continued to chuckle halfheartedly, as if trying to mask an awkward silence filled with the air of humiliation.

The voice abided the giggling.. But not for very long.

"Sorry about that.." she said with a tinge of shame in her voice.

I can tell we're gonna get along just fine.

She was silent again, but the silence felt more purposeful than before.

Kiddo? You still there?

"Yep." she replied. 

So. 'O'bviously we still have a bit of a problem here... what was your name again?

"Maybe 'I' for now?"

Yeah I'm not calling you 'I'. It'd be a whole comedy of errors if we went with that.

"Maybe not just the single letter, but I still like the sound of it."

Sure. Sure. Everyone has a favorite letter. I want to know if you're insane enough to have a second.

She thought on it, but she realized that there was really only one thing she could possibly say.

"Honestly, I don't know."

The voice reflected on the answer, but only for a small moment.

Well. Guess not all of your screws are loose. 

"W-wait what?.." there was a tinge of panic in her response.

Don't sweat it kid.

Anyway. We're still stuck here in this mass of junk. Your back is probably going to crack soon. At least, that's how I feel. 

She became startled. As if rattled out of a trance that left her high up in the sky.

"I don't know how to get out of here.." she said it in a scared tone. It almost reminded the voice of a child. 'Kid' indeed.

Seriously? You don't know what a distress signal is?

"I can't.. M-my body's broken. I can't access anything that isn't the s-stupid System Diagnostic."

Have you tried the auxiliary generator? I've scanned your internal systems, and it seems like the only thing that isn't busted.

"You what?..

"S-Same story over there. I can't use it.."

Well. That's certainly strange..

"Y-yeah. I don't know what happened there.. Was I locked out?"

Wait a second.

The voice disappeared for a second, but she felt something in her systems. But they were trace, as if they had long outstayed their welcome.

There's no easy way to tell this to you kid.

"O-Okay? What did you find--"

There's no life signature coming off on you. 

You're dead.

"What..? N-no. This can't be right." she stammered in a panic.

She tried to move her left arm again. She could still hear the machinery within her struggling. Grinding against the scrap that entrapped it in the pile.

"But.. I'm moving it--"

The HUD popped up on her screen. As if willed by her consciousness.

'D-Diagnostic...?'

'Searching for Psionic System Status...'

Her HUD brought up a square, bordered by bold, red lines.

'Psionic Signature not found. Current findings suggest irrevocable Inert State. Further attempts to reboot may result in the occurrence of unwanted Spe-' 

The HUD began to slow and stutter. The images began to distort into random sprites of geometry as it showed one final message.

'ERROR 404. C-CONSCIOUSNESS <host> (1-I0a) CANNOT BE A-A-A'

She could feel that voice again. Something about how its words were being dictated felt more.. Excited than before.

Pretty sure you get the point. There's no moving this sinking ship.

"I'm alive.

"I'm alive..

"I-I'm alive..."

Her head felt empty. As if something had left.

She noticed a brightness on her front.

It was her screen. Shining with a radiant blue, as it always did. Unlike always, it was blank.

"H-Hello..? Please.. Anybody?!"

No response.

She tried to get move her body once again, but she only got some mild twitching instead.

She was still stuck.

"Help.. Help me..."

And such was the bottom of this pit. The wailing didn't cease. Her glitched voice barely carving itself out in the ambient noise of the Ruinyard.

Higher pitch.

Low pitch.

High pitch.

Lower pitch.

High pitch.

Scramble.

 ...

So. How about a deal?

She looked all around her. The once mighty pile had been reduced to scraps of charred metal and wire which flanked her on every side. A trail of smoke trailed upwards, cloaking her in a blanket of grey mist.

"H-how did y-you?"

Magic kiddo. I can do a lot of things.

She could almost hear the voice shrugging under her breath.

"O-ok?"